J3/04-256
To: J3
From: Craig Dedo
Date: February 16, 2004
Subject: Period as Derived Type Delimiter
Number:
Title: Period as Derived Type Delimiter
Submitted By: Craig Dedo
Status: For Consideration
References:
Basic Functionality:
Fortran should recognize the use of the period (.) as a delimiter in
derived types in addition to the percent sign (%).
Rationale:
The main reason is aesthetic. The period in this context is easier
to read. This is shown by the choice of the period as the derived type
delimiter in most other languages that support derived types, including
C, C++, and Java.
Estimated Impact:
There would be no effect on existing codes.
This feature may cause a conflict with operators and pre-defined
constants in fixed source form. This conflict could be resolved by
defining the derived type delimiter to have a higher precedence than
operators and pre-defined constants. Processors that already implement
this feature as an extension always use this precedence rule.
Implementation costs should be minimal. There may need to be some
extra syntax checking.
Detailed Specification:
Change the rule to allow either a period or percent sign as the
delimiter.
History: